Sunday, September 16, 2012

The System of Self Accountability in Army and NLC Scam!

Captain Arshad was serving as Staff Officer in 18Div Hyderabad. He got married
from Hyderabad.
After some time he returned back to his parent unit of artillery posted in Azad
Kashmir. Coincidence or just irony of fate his unit moved to 18-Div in Hyderabad where an
operation against dacoits was going on in the interior Sindh. Till than Captain
Arshad had been promoted to Major rank; his unit was responsible for the
operation against dacoits/miscreants. During this on a report/information about
the dacoits, Major Arshad along with his soldiers and heavy numbers of
Policemen arrived on the spot where after mutual firing and fight more than a
dozen dacoits were killed. The next day the newspapers were flooding with the
report of successful operation against dacoits. The background of dacoits and
the weapons recovered from them were published on the newspapers. After few
days a newspaper from interior Sindh published the news that the persons killed
were not dacoits but the landlords who were murdered through conspiracy.

If the
matter had been of Police or Civil Administration nothing would have happened
but in this operation army was directly involved, so as a result as soon as the
news reached the army the self accountability system of army came into action
and after the investigation the facts were completely from what had been
reported by the raiding party. The summary is that the persons murdered in the
name of dacoits were at dispute regarding land with the in-laws of Major
Arshad. The in-laws of Major Arshad planned to get their opponents murdered
under the cover of on going operation against dacoits; they were advised by a
higher police official posted in the same area to do so.

So the
higher officials of Police informed army about the dacoits hiding at a place
that were planning for serious dacoity. While the fact was that they were
invited by in-laws of Major Arshad for Panchayat/arbitration. On the completion
of investigations Major Arshad along with his three soldiers was arrested by
Military Police. In the court martial they were sentenced to death and
afterwards executed as well because the Chief of Army at that time Asif Nawaz
Janjua has also supported their death sentence. But the astonishing fact is
that Police officers and in-laws of
Major Arshad who had planned this murder, no one asked them and were
left free. Not only this on completion of the investigations General Officer
Command of Div-18 Major General Ishaque was transferred from Hyderabad at once
while a Brigadier was forced to retire.

Inquiry was initiated on the orders of General Kiyani

This was
just incident which came on surface due to its nature otherwise there are
uncountable such incidents of integrated self-accountability due to which many
officers are expelled from army or in spite of brilliant professional profile
are kept away from progress. This does not mean that there is no corruption in
army or there are just angels but every young man who joins Pak-army his actual
dream is his career or future which he struggles to keep it as much clean and
clear as possible. The purpose of rules or laws is to keep persons away from
every act which may fall against discipline even in weak moments of ones life due to the constant fear
of accountability. Abut dew to the usual political conditions of the country
and the threats that Pakistan
has inherited from its birth army had to intervene govt. many time toppling it
and due to this public thinks that army or soldier is just like a sacred cow that
no one can question or hold accountable. Why army interferes or overthrows
political govt. this is a separate discussion but as a department if the system
of self/internal-accountability has been missing neither we had been able to
complete our nuclear program nor it had been so much strong that in spite of
international conspiracies it is still there and will remain forever
inshaAllah.

General Afzal Muzafar accused in NLC Scam

Look at the
example of NLC scandal. In the way three ex-higher officials of the Pak-army
are going to be court martial; few of our anchor-persons and anti-army politicians
want to dispute it as well in the eyes of public by criticizing it. They want
that all three Generals are given in to the hands of Police, holding a
traditional inquiry and than an ending series of hearings in courts so that
army as a whole could be defamed and culprits are left free just like as in
case of most corrupt politicians still in the parliament. Those politicians who
term their disclosed corruption as “REVENGE” looting public resources as their
right or those who are involved in crimes as well as corruption want to turn
court trial of these three Generals into media trial so that public’s attention
could be diverted from their corruption. That is why these elements are burning
with anguish on reinstating of these three Generals on their ranks as Generals
so that the trial of court marital could be started against them. On this the
professional depth and responsibility should have been appreciated that the
system of army is so much powerful that it can bring its own officers to
justice. This reinstating has been done by the means of an act of army ‘Pakistan
ARMY ACT SECTION 92 IN CONJUNCTION WITH
SECTION 40’, according to this act at the time of court martial it is necessary
for the accused to be in duty. This is not something new in many countries like
Britain and India
there are such examples in which those army officers who were involved in
crimes were reinstated even after ten years of retirement for court martial.

Court
martial trial has been decided against Lt. General Khalid Muneer, Lt. General
Afzal Muzaffar and Major General Khalid Zaheer. They are accused of not
corruption or looting of Public Money but investing it in such way that it got
lost, so an inquiry had been initiated against them and in the light of this
inquiry this has been decided that they should be brought to justice through
court martial. This inquiry had been conducted by Lt. General Khalid Naeem
Lodhi (Retd.) who got retirement from 31-Corps Bahawalpur last year. Although he is junior
to the accused officers but due to his honesty and career profile he was
assigned the responsibility to hold the inquiry and he completed this task
within the given time. Here this should be kept in mind than in NLC Scandal
along with army officers few civilian officers were also involved that is why
in spite of completion of inquiry the proceeding of court martial had been
delayed. Otherwise our anchor persons and other notables notorious for
propaganda against Pak-army are well aware that there is no inclination in Pakistan
army for suppressing the inquiries or supporting the culprits.

General (Retd.) Khalid Naeem Lodhi who completed the inquiry within the given time

Here I
would like to quote an incident from Multan.
In 2002 inquiry against a higher civil officer was going on by three officers
of Pakistan
army. But during the inquiry (that was being monitored as well) this was
revealed that someone within the inquiry committee was supporting that corrupt
officer who was notorious for corruption in the city. At last one Major was
tracked down who was helping the accused not for personal benefit but due to
the pressure of his relatives. Inquiry against Major was initiated; on
completion of inquiry and prove of allegation Major was forced to retire
however the civil officer is still in the office on contract after being
retired for being guilty of corruption.

Here I
would like to request my friends, writers, and anchors that in spite of
disputing the reinstatement of three Generals on their ranks they should
appreciate their national asset i.e. Pakistan army that has an active system of
accountability in such a time when the orders of Supreme court are being
ignored. This system of accountability is strong enough to decide without any
pressure on the merit basis. Public should keep in mind that all three accused
Generals that have been reinstated neither have been given any military duty not
posted anywhere but they have reinstated to bring them in the trial for
justice. This was necessary for the law to hold them and for this our army
needs to be appreciated.